FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2024
CONTACT:
Molly McKinney, Ball Consulting Group, LLC
Phone: 617-243-9950; Email: molly@ballcg.com
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation Announces Reappointment of Board Members, Recipients of Joanne Peterson Award
BOSTON (Dec. 17, 2024) – RIZE Massachusetts Foundation, an independent nonprofit foundation solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis in Massachusetts, today announced the reappointment of six members of its Board of Directors: Michael Curry, Tim Foley, Christie Hager, Steve Lipiner, Frank Robinson and Joy Rosen. The six members provide valuable perspective and leadership in the health care and finance sectors.
“RIZE is making great strides in a new chapter in our fight against the overdose crisis. We’re diligently working with the state to distribute opioid settlement funds to the communities most impacted by the crisis while continuing to fund programs and initiatives that increase access to treatment and build the field,” said RIZE Board Chair Steve Pollock, former President of DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S. “Our board is fortunate to have the continued service and expertise of Michael, Tim, Chris, Steve, Frank and Joy.”
Curry is the CEO of Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Foley is the Executive Vice President at 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and Rosen is Vice President of Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts General Physician Organization & Mass General Brigham, System Behavioral and Mental Health. Hager, Lipiner and Robinson formerly held positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, State Street Global Advisors and Baystate Health, respectively.
RIZE also announced that the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) and the Gavin Foundation have both received the Joanne Peterson Award, which honors nonprofit organizations for their dedication to improving the lives of people affected by the overdose crisis.
RIZE’s Board of Directors created the Joanne Peterson Award in 2022. It recognizes the compassion, empathy, respect, resilience and hope needed to end the stigma associated with addiction, keep people safe from overdose, and ensure that anyone who wants it has access to quality care and support no matter who they are or where they live.
The award was named in recognition of Peterson’s many contributions as a devoted leader in the peer-led support community, including as a founding board member and through the work of her organization, Learn to Cope. The annual award provides a one-time grant of $25,000 to the recipient.
This year’s awards presented to MOAR and the Gavin Foundation will honor the dedicated service of outgoing leadership and support these organizations as they welcome new horizons. Maryanne Frangules and a group of volunteers founded MOAR in 1991, inspired by the late Senator Harold Hughes. Since its inception, Frangules served as MOAR’s Executive Director, working to organize the recovery community, educate policymakers and the general public, and demonstrate that recovery is working in the Commonwealth.
John McGahan, the former President/CEO of the Gavin Foundation, served in various leadership roles within the organization since 1994, becoming President/CEO in 2008 and retiring earlier this year. Under his leadership, the foundation gained recognition as one of the most respected and trusted comprehensive addiction education, prevention and treatment programs in Greater Boston.
“Both MOAR and the Gavin Foundation have made invaluable contributions to the recovery community for over 30 years,” said Julie Burns, President and CEO of RIZE Massachusetts. “We are proud to present the Joanne Peterson Award to two highly respected organizations that embody Joanne’s values of care, compassion and hope, and honor the legacies of our longtime partners, Maryanne and John, in the fight to end the overdose crisis and stigma associated with substance use disorder.”
About RIZE Massachusetts
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation is solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis. Guided by those with lived experience and unafraid of new ideas, RIZE is building networks, designing programming, and supporting community partners who are using novel approaches to preventing overdose and increasing access to treatment. Learn more at www.rizema.org.
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